Recipe: Marion Cunningham’s Snappy Ginger Snaps

Graham will be home soon. So soon. And I’m starting to prepare for it. The more tedious preparations involve cleaning the apartment from top to bottom. The more fun preparations involve planning out the delicious things I can’t wait to make for him.

The one thing he was requested, besides his homecoming dinner at Texas Roadhouse, is a pumpkin cheesecake. And my pumpkin cheesecake calls for a gingersnap crust. I had the urge to bake the other night, and after flipping through my copy of Marion Cunningham’s Learning to Cook, I decided to make homemade gingersnaps. After I made these, I decided there was no way that I could throw these in a food processor and crumble them up to make a crust. These are by far the best gingersnaps I’ve ever had. They’re crispy, but slightly chewy. They have the perfect spicy, gingery flavor. I could easily eat all 34 cookies in one sitting.

Marion Cunningham’s Snappy GingersnapsIngredients:

3/4 cup of Crisco (or any solid shortening)

1 cup of sugar, plus 1/3 cup more to roll cookies in)

1 egg

1/4 cup of dark molasses

2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 t. of baking soda

1/2 t. of salt

1 T. of ground ginger

1 t. of cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together the shortening, 1 cup of sugar, egg & molasses, until smooth & well mixed.

Pour the remaining sugar to a plate, or on a sheet of parchment. Scoop up a rounded teaspoon of dough, and roll into a ball. Roll the dough ball into the sugar, and place on an ungreased baking sheet (mine was lined with a silicone baking mat). Place dough balls 2 inches apart (do not flatten them out).

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Once out of the oven, leave them on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, before moving them to a cooling rack.